Hello minna-san,
If you have time a few words... First of all, I hope you are all doing okay! I have missed you! I have had many emails asking when the next chapter is going up and here you go! Second of all, I'm extremely sorry it has been that long since I updated. To my defense, I had more family issues and also started an MA Course so I have that, too. But, I'm managing... Anyway, I know I took longer but this chapter is at least twice as long as per usual!
Enjoy your reading and join me at the end where I will give you some hints about the continiuation.
Love you all!
The faint humming of the car engine was the only thing that could be heard for a few seconds, as silence filled the limosine. Mephisto's eyes, which were glowing in expectation a moment ago, started clouding in worry.
"What's wrong, Ayame?" He asked, concerned.
"Nothing." I replied quickly, feeling that I should have reacted in a different way at his announcement. But, I wasn't sure what to say or do as there was one simple problem…
"I just, have no idea… what any of these words mean…" I admitted eyeing him carefully.
Mephisto's eyes widened in surprise and he immediately burst into laughter, which in my opinion was completely unnecessary and made my face heat up.
"Shut up! No laughing at the birthday girl!" I growled.
"As you wish~" He mustered saying, between his chuckles. "But, do remind me to laugh afterwards."
"Mephisto!"
"You'll have to excuse me…" He continued bringing his hands up in defense. "It's just one of the biggest and most well-known float festivals in Japan. I had presumed you'd know about it."
"Well, obviously I don't." I muttered. How was it my fault I didn't know about it? It's not like, as I was leaving the American Exorcist headquarters a colleague had stopped me and said 'Oh, by the way; while in Japan, killing demons and protecting the city, please do visit all the tourist attractions you can find. Here's a few brochures. Have fun! Bring souvenirs!'
Mephisto patted my head "Don't worry about it Ayame! I will explain the basics!" Clearing his throat he began talking in a rather soothing voice. "As I mentioned, it's a float festival, one of the three biggest in Japan and its full name is the Chichibu Night Festival. The floats are considered a must-see as they are exceptional in design and beauty. It also features the usual festival market with a variety of stalls. I think you will like their collection very much! We will spend the first night if you want wondering around, as it's the second one that things take off with a variety of events!"
My mind had gone blank as blurry images of colourful stalls, golden lanterns and delicious food flooded my mind and I felt a strong wave of excitement rushing over me.
"It sounds amazing, Mephisto." I said feeling grateful that Mephisto was so thoughtful and had brought me to such an amazing event. "Wait… did you say second day?"
"Well, yeah!" He smiled. "It's a two day event. I have booked us a room in a very nice hotel."
"It does sound gr- Wait! What do you mean by 'a' room?" I asked as I felt my heart skipped a beat.
"You are not suggesting that we are going to sleep in one-"
"Excellent! We are here!" He shouted excitedly covering my voice and exited the car leaving my question unanswered and my heart racing. A hand, softly touching my shoulder, brought me out of my trance and I turned to see him extend his other hand towards me. I took it and I was pulled out of the car. The limo drove off almost immediately and we were left standing just outside the Torii, the entrance of the Shrine.
The sound of hundreds of people talking and signing overflowed my ears immediately leaving me stand there for a moment, stunned trying to take in everything.
"Magnificent, isn't it?" I heard Mephisto saying through the clamour. "Be sure to stay close so you won't get lost." I nodded obediently, still feeling a bit dizzy, as he started dragging me through the sea of people. I was expected to be immediately crushed but somehow Mephisto was making way and we passed through easily enough and we headed for a less crowded area.
He took me on a quick tour as he explained where the floats would pass through and pointed at the seats we would be sitting tomorrow. They were in a raised platform surrounded by red fence and were under a golden-lighted pergola. His eyes shifted to one of the stalls to the far left and he sat me on a bench, telling me to wait as he saw something that I would enjoy. I nodded and waited as I tried taking in everything.
Throughout my years on Assiah I never attended such a crowded place and it was making it difficult for me to breathe. I felt my heart thumping loudly in my chest and tried to calm down, looking around to take my mind off it. Japanese festivals were quite overwhelming… and that was just the first day.
My thoughts were interrupted by a loud, high-pitched noise and I raised my head to see a small boy, a few meters away, crying. The people around him were ignoring him and I couldn't spot any concerned-looking adults as the parents. Ignoring Mephisto's words I stood up and hurried to the boy's side, to see a small creature pulling his hair and biting his skin.
"A Coal Tar!" I murmured as I looked around cautiously. Sure, Coal Tar were little to no threat to an exorcist; but if his little friends were nearby then that might actually cause a commotion. It was very uncommon for lower class demons to enter sacred ground, however, sometimes, some did sneak in on occasions like this. I reached for my pocket and a growl of annoyance escaped my lips upon realization that I was no longer wearing my uniform and therefore I had no holy water and no summoning slips. If things got ugly I'd have to cut myself to summon my familiars. A sneer escaped my lips doubting that possibility arising. However, I mentally scolded myself for not being prepared, even if I was with Mephisto. Seeing no other Coal Tar around I flicked the one near the boy away to get his attention.
"Don't you have anything better to do than to torture a poor, defenseless boy?" I hissed at it. It hissed back, but didn't attack and instead looked at me wearily. I saw his toothy black mouth open, ready to call his friends, but I flicked it, one more time.
"I'd rather you didn't do that!" Hissing one more time, he turned his back at me and floated away. I watched his retreating figure float to the night and I feel glad that it listened without putting up a fight. I turned my attention to the boy who was now looking around questioningly.
"Are you alright?"
He nodded still looking confused.
"Did he hurt you anywhere else?" I asked again, checking him for any bruises.
He shook his head.
"Has this happened to you before?"
He nodded.
Sitting on my knees I looked in his glowing, baby blue eyes, which were filled with tears just a second ago. "I don't have any right now, but four-leaved clovers will prevent it from abusing you again."
"You can see them, too?" He asked with a trembling voice.
It was my turn to nod.
"My parents said I was crazy!" He whispered, coming closer as if we were two friends and were about to share an important secret.
"You are definitely not crazy. However, most people can't see them." I answer, feeling sympathy for him as I was a lot like him once. "Just buy the clover and it will help. I promise you!"
"Really?"
I nodded one more time.
"Thank you." He murmured. He started walking away when he paused, looked back and came running back at me.
"What's wrong?" I asked raising my brow.
"Neesan, I forgot to ask you your name." He asked and I could see a faint blush decorating his glowing red cheeks.
"I'm Ayame." I answered smiling. "What's yours?"
"I'm Kou. Nice to meet you, Ayame-neesan… Thank you and goodbye." He smiled and took off to one of the stalls nearby, where a couple was looking at some wooden carvings, ignoring us. I growled at their neglecting behavior, but decided against scolding them. It wasn't really my place and I wasn't that good with confronting people I didn't know. With the help of the clover they would stop bothering him once and for all.
"Ayame~" I heard a familiar voice through the crowd and turned around to face an excited looking Mephisto, who was holding one caramel apple on one hand and one caramel strawberry on the other. "You had mentioned before that you never tried them, so I thought that today was a perfect chance! Which one would you prefer?"
Accepting the strawberry one, I smiled appreciatively at him, completely erasing any signs of my brief encounter with the kid and the little demon. We started walking as I starting licking and biting into the sweet but hard caramel as Mephisto started apologized for taking so long to come back, as the saleswoman kept trying to narrate her whole life story to him.
"I will never understand why humans keep insisting they have horrible lives when they have never truly felt true pain and agony! We demons, have been born in a much more ruthless and competitive environment, where every day is a fight for your life. Where you have to shed blood just to survive and tear apart your opponents just to get some-"
"If that's not a magical night, I don't know what is…" I murmured sarcastically.
Mephisto gave me a toothy smirk. "That's the wonders of Gehenna, my dear. It's unfortunately a dreadful, grim environment, especially compared to Assiah. That's the reason I adore this place. Humans are very interesting and creative creatures."
His eyes shifted to one of the stalls we were passing and he paused to look. I stopped too and saw that the stall was full with Japanese masks of all colours and shapes. There were ones shapes like geishas, animals, spirits and so on. My eyes fell on one of the masks and my heart skipped a beat as an involuntary: "Oh, no…" escaped my lips.
"Is everything alright?" Mephisto asked looking around.
"Yep." I replied quickly looking away.
Mephisto didn't continue the conversation and instead kept looking at the masks.
"Which one do you like? There is one that looks as a frog, but I don't think green suits you. What about this mask?" He asked pointing at a white mask with red stripes that was resembling a cat. I gulped nervously and refused, realizing it was the mask I was looking a moment ago.
"Why not?" He asked again. "You like cats and this one is very pretty." He continued taking it in his hand to examine it.
Glancing at the mask I decided to tell him, knowing that I would probably regret it. "It reminds of a Japanese animated movie I once watched. The male protagonist was a yokai, a spirit of the forest, and was always wearing one like it. I don't like the ending of the movie at all."
Mephisto looked thoughtful for a moment. "Ah~ I think I know which one you are on about. He was always with a human girl, wasn't he?" As if remembering something he turned to my direction and a sly smile decorated his lips. "Did you by any chance… at the ending?"
"Shut up!" I whispered, knowing he found out and I headed for the next stall in a hurry.
"Ayame~ I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He continued with a chuckle and grabbed my arm, spinning me around. "It's always irresistible for me to mess with humans. They are such emotional creatures and even the smallest things seem to get to them."
I frowned and tried to stop thinking about the movie, or I was pretty sure I would start crying. "That's not true." I said with a cracked voice.
"Exhibit A." He said and lightly flicked my forehead.
I frowned and told him to shut up while he urged me to buy a different mask. His treat. I smiled a bit and thanked him.
"I didn't know though, you enjoyed this kind of movies, Ayame. I thought of you as the action kind-of type."
I took the newly bought masked and wore it to the side of my head, adjusting the elastic string. "I enjoy most movies. Sad ones, are not usually my types, but I guess I don't mind them once in a while. I'm not sure if it's the same for demons, but I feel all humans need to cry once in a while."
"I guess you are right." He agreed as we passed from a colourful candy floss stall. "Demons, indeed don't cry often. It's very rare that someone will. We are taught and trained to suppress such emotions from a very young age."
"Doesn't that become a bother later on?" I asked licking my caramel strawberry. "I mean don't you feel sometimes that you just want to blow up when stressed?"
Mephisto looked thoughtful and took a bite off his apple. "Personally, I don't get aggravated often. But, when I do I'll find another way to deal with it."
We walked silently for a while. I wouldn't call it awkward though. It just was that the demon world was always so different from the human world. We didn't know much about it apart from the general environment and the hierarchy among the demons. Thinking about it, I really didn't know much about Mephisto and a small part of me felt sad about it. Maybe today was a good chance to finally learn more about him and understand him better.
I had just opened my mouth when Mephisto gasped and before I had the chance to look at him and ask him what was wrong, he had already vanished. Taken aback I spotted his head in the sea of people on my left and I headed there cautiously. I saw him talking excitedly to a salesman who looked very disturbed.
"Mephisto?" I asked hesitating. "What's wrong?"
Mephisto turned around and look at me with a wide smile decorating his features. He grabbed my shoulders and brought me closer. I looked at his glowing eyes preparing for the worst.
"Ayame!" He yelled.
"Mephisto." I replied, waiting.
"I found a limited edition Honey-Honey sisters patterned, floating lantern. Isn't that amazing?"
I sighed in exasperation. "Amazing is one word for it, Mephisto…"
Unfazed, he went back to the stall, trying to get a better bargain from the salesman who didn't look pleased at all and yelled that he wasn't going to lower the price. I thought about going there and trying to reason with Mephisto but the bench on my right looked way too comfortable to ignore. So, I spread myself on it, munching on my caramel strawberry, smirking as the two adult men who were arguing over a pink lantern.
"1.361 yen! Can you believe it, Ayame? He only lowered the price by 1.361 yen! That's nothing compared to how expensive it was."
"It's still a good bargain, Mephisto." I said smiling at his childish behavior. "Why do you need to bargain anyway? Money shouldn't be an issue for you."
"It's not a matter of money, Ayame! It's matter of principle."
"Is that what you call it? Where I come from we call it being a tightwad."
Mephisto looked offended. "I don't see in what evidence you support that accusation."
"Oh come on Mephisto!" I rolled my eyes at him. "Remember when you offered to help Rin economically? Do you recall how much money you offered to give him?"
"2.000 yen is a decent amount of money!" He argued back.
"Not for a month, it ain't." I sneered.
"I was generous enough to offer it in the first place."
"It's still very little, Mephisto. He couldn't even buy a proper meal in the cafeteria."
"Yes, he could."
"Have you seen the prices in the school cafeteria?"
"It doesn't matter." He said stopping our quarrel. "All it matters is that I finally have such a rare item in my possession!"
"On that matter… Don't you think you have way too many Bunny-Bunny items.? " I asked, knowing his answer.
"There's no such thing as too many Honey-Honey sisters items!" He said, correcting me.
I gave up on arguing with him as I felt my eyelids closing and I struggled to suppress a yawn.
"Shall we head back to the hotel, my dear?"
"That'd be great!"
"It was a rather overwhelming evening. Would you be interested in a quick drink before we go to sleep?"
I nodded excited.
"That is definitely not a quick drink, Mephisto!" I said chuckling as Mephisto poured more Pinot Grigio into my glass.
"Oh, but Ayame! I bought the bottle, knowing how much you like. It would be rude to say no."
"I guess, split between us won't be too bad…" I agreed, taking a sip.
"Great! And afterwards, we should try some of their local sake!"
"Mephisto! We shouldn't have more!"
"Oh but dear! It's a tradition to have sake when you go to a Festival."
"I'm pretty sure, you are making that up." I smirked and leaned back on the comfortable black sofa we were sitting on.
"Even if I am, you can't prove me wrong." He smiled back.
"I can ask people!" I argued back, feeling already a bit lightheaded as I wasn't used to alcohol. I usually had a small glass when I was stressed or doing work and it helped me relax.
"Will you?"
I gave a quick look around at the very few people that were seated in the corner of the hotel bar. I couldn't be bothered. I grumbled.
Mephisto chuckled and I turned my attention back to him, noticing he had refilled my drink again.
"Mephisto… Are you trying to get me drunk?" I asked suspiciously.
"Why would I want to do that?" He asked back, smirking.
"I could think of a few reasons. Speaking of which, did you ask for a second room?"
"A second…?"
"Yes, a second room! I am not sleeping in the same bedroom as you!"
"Why not?" He pouted.
"Because…" I started and then blushed. Because it was Mephisto. He would probably do something… perverted.
"I'll keep you warm…"
"No, Mephisto."
"But, Ayame-chan!"
"Mephisto! For the last time, I'm not sleeping with you!" I said standing up and realized that I had said that last part a bit louder than intended as I saw the guys who were sitting in the corner give us a glance. I felt my cheeks heat up and quickly sat down feeling ready to cry. Damn Mephisto and damn the alcohol that made me more emotional than I already was.
"No need to get that upset, my dear. I'll book another room." He said giving me a sly smirk. "Stay put, will you?" Standing up, he headed towards the reception. I watched his figure leave and feeling my blood boil with anger I gulped the rest of my wine.
"Stupid, Mephisto!" I growled as I was ready to pour the rest of the bottle into my glass. I felt a hand around my shoulders and turning my head, saw a good looking young man sitting next to me. I stared into his chestnut eyes which looked mischievously into mine.
"Sorry to bother you, sugar." He smiled. "We couldn't help overhearing your little conversation."
I blushed as my fears were confirmed. "Sorry, you had to hear that…"
"It's alright, love. Seems like your boyfriend is being a bit too, pushy."
"I guess he can be, sometimes…" I agreed, my head feeling a bit dizzy. I grabbed some nearby water to make myself feel better and my eyes widened in realization. "But, he's not my boyfriend!"
The man's eyes widened. "Is he not? Well, he doesn't seem to care about your opinions a lot! Wouldn't you say so, Koji?" He said looking to the other side of me, where another man was now sitting.
"I do agree, Eito! You seem very nice to be with someone like him"
"Um, thank you?" I replied trying to clear my head.
"How about you ditch that guy and come and have some fun with us?" Eito asked.
"Thank you for the offer, but I'm okay." I said and drank some more water. My head had already started to feel better, but knowing me it would take at least an hour to completely clear up.
"We know how to take care of a woman…" Eito shifted closer, while Koji refilled my glass of wine and offered it to me. I took it hesitantly but didn't drink.
"I bet he is a good-for-nothing" Koji said and chuckled. "We see millions of guys like these. The fact that he is pushing you to do something you don't want to, is proof of that."
"Well, he is mostly goofing around…" I replied.
"Mostly?" Eito said. "So, he does partially mean it."
"On some level, I guess." I said, remembering of the time of our first kiss. I had felt incredibly embarrassed as I didn't know how to deal with those feelings that kept building inside of me. I'm still not sure how serious Mephisto is towards me; that's probably the reason I'm getting defensive around him sometimes.
But… I don't mind the way we are now… for the time being at least.
"So, would you like to come back to our place? We live fairly close." Eito said and his hand started caressing my inner thigh. I saw with the corner of my eye Koji move even closer and I sighed.
Mephisto was skipping in the dim-lighted bar, with a bottle of sake in his hand and a smile spread across his face.
"Hey, Ayame-chan. I brought, the sake I promised and I've already took care of the room, so need to worry about…" His smile faded from his face as he gazed at the two male bodies lying on the floor.
"Um, Ayame- chan… What happened? Who are they?"
I took a sip of the wine as I pointed to each of the bodies. "That's Eito and that's Koji. I'm sure they'd be pleased to meet you, but they are kind of unconscious right now."
Mephisto blinked in surprise. "And the reason they are on the floor, my dear?" It was my turn to blink in surprise at the question and I swear I could see a faint smirk playing at Mephisto's lips.
"I beat them up."
"I see." He replied suppressing a chuckle. "And why did you do that?"
I thought for a second, but decided against telling him the real reason. "They were overstepping their boundaries." I said, still sticking to the truth.
"Shall I call for someone to escort them to their house?" Mephisto said smirking.
"Nah, they live fairly close." I replied and took another sip. "Is it okay if we have the sake tomorrow and go to sleep for now?"
Mpehisto looked at the two bodies one last time and chuckled, walking closer to the sofa, offering me his hand. "Sounds like a good idea."
I smiled and took his hand.
The morning of the third of December was unexpectedly a quite one. I had thought that Mephisto would bang on my door, demanding from me to wake up so we could continue strolling through the festival. However, the only thing I found when I opened my eyes was a little pink note on top of my bedside table. Trying to focus on the letter and ignore the blur that was spreading around me I finally made sense of what was written on it. Basically, Mephisto abandoned me for the morning as he had some urgent business to take care of and had to go back to the Academy, with the promise that he would return during the afternoon to continue our date.
I wasn't sure if I should get mad at him or thank the Gods for giving me a break from him. I can't handle him at all times and first thing in the morning… I would probably end up punching him…
"Wait a minute…" I whispered narrowing my eyes at the letter. "He came into my room? While I was sleeping?" I shrieked. "I'm going to kill him!" I growled and prepared to storm out. Feeling light headed I tripped and landed on the floor, face first, which only made my head feel like a drill was penetrating my brain, while a hammer kept banging it. I felt like crying from the pain.
I carefully regained my balance and headed for my bed. "Maybe after I have a nap." Tucking myself between the covers I tried getting myself to sleep, but the shearing pain prevented me from doing so.
I whined, annoyed. That's why I hated getting drunk. It was all the dumb clown's fault. I turned to the other side to get more comfortable, only to find another small note pinned to the side of the wall. I reached lazily for it and read it.
"I left some medicine for your head on the first drawer of your bedside table."
I reached for the drawer to find, indeed some chewable pills for my head and instantly munched three of them. I felt the effect almost instantly and closed my eyes letting sleep take over.
"I still hate you, Mephisto." I said feeling a smile spread across my face as I nuzzled against my pillow.
The night arrived fairly quickly with me sleeping through most of the day. Another note in my room said that Mephisto was going to be waiting for me at 8.00. Feeling my head had cleared up I put on my kimono again and descended down the stairs to see Mephisto.
The sky was clear and empty of any stars, while the shrine was full of the colourful stalls once. I caught a small glimpse of one of them with the miniatures of the floats and I approached in a hurry. I picked one carefully and feeling the cold material I guessed it was made of glass. I brought it closer noticing all the little details and couldn't but let a small gasp escape my lips.
"Aren't they wonderful, Meph-" I turned around only to realize he was nowhere near me. Did he ditch me, again? I was about to call out to him when I caught a glimpse of familiar red hair swaying about two meters away from me. I didn't have to check her giant chest or her curvy hips to make sure that this was Shura. I felt my blood run cold and shoved a hand on top of my mouth. Thankfully, her back was facing me and I could see her shoulders shake with her usual drunk laughter. I reacted fast and run away, only to return back to the stall for a moment to place the glass miniature back to its place and then once more took off.
A hand grasped my shoulder and prevented me from going any further. I could feel beads of sweat run down my forehead and turning my head slowly I saw the tall form of Mephisto looking at me with interest.
"Are you trying to get away from me, Ayame? Could it be because of my previous comment? I was only joking…You know that, right?"
I left a sigh of relief and grabbed his hand, guiding him away from Shura.
"It's not that, Mephisto… It's just…" I looked at her direction making sure there was no way she could see or hear us. "… Shura is here and-"
"Then let's go and say hi!" He interrupted and turned around.
"Yes, let's leave and- Wai-What?" I asked him and grabbed his hand.
"Miss Shura is an old friendly acquaintance of mine. It would be rude not to say hello." He answered with a not-so-innocent smile.
"We can't do that!" I replied, feeling like I was digging my own grave.
"Oh? And why is that?"
"Well… First of all… I haven't seen Shura in a while. And well, seeing me with you, she might get presumptuous." I continued feeling a bit flustered.
"How so?"
"Well… she will probably think that we… are… you know…"
"How would I know?" He asks me, his gaze fixed on his long nails and I could feel a dangerous smirk growing bigger on his face. "Not unless you say it…"
"That we are…dating." I finished feeling like I was a million shades of red.
"Isn't 'dating' the correct characterization of what we are doing right now?"
"I guess." I admitted. "But, I can't let her know that. Shura wouldn't approve of me dating in the first place. So, imagine what would happen if she knew that you and I went out on a da-"
"Hey Miss Shura~" Mephisto called and started moving towards her direction.
A gasp escaped my lips and ran in front of him stopping him from taking another step and quickly put a hand on his mouth. He looked at me raising an eyebrow. I took a quick look in her direction but she seemed too absorbed in her laughing and drinking to take notice of us. I shoved Mephisto back to our original place feeling like slapping him.
"Are you out of your fucking mind?" I whispered angrily at him.
His emerald eyes were glowing with mischievousness and I understood.
"You want me to get into trouble?"
"Why would I ever want to get you into trouble?" He replied sinisterly.
"I don't know… Lack of interests? Boredom? Because you enjoy chaos?"
"You at least got one of the three correct." He chuckled.
"Wonderful. Now can we please go on with our night?"
"But Shura…"
"Will surely manage to survive on her own. Now let's go." I grabbed his yukata sleeve and tried to drag him away but he refused to go anywhere.
"I don't know, Ayame. I still want to go and say hi~"
"The birthday girl asks you not to!" I smirked triumphantly.
"It's not your birthday anymore…" He reminded me with an evil smile.
Shit!
"The second part of the lantern show will soon begin…" I started, hoping to distract him.
"It's still twenty minutes till that. Plenty of time."
I gulped trying to find any sort of excuse.
"Now then…" He started. "If you are out of reasons for me to stay here then I will go and say hi to Miss Shura. Don't worry I won't forget to mention you."
My mind overloaded with ideas and possible outcomes as he took one step forward. I had to distract him. Somehow. Anything would do. I looked around frantically. The numerous stalls didn't seem to sell anything that would keep him here.
He took another step and I lunged forward. I was determined to keep him here, and I didn't care at what cost. I saw his eyes widen in surprise and so did mine when I realized what I was doing. My hands were entangled in his dark lavender hair, my form firmly pressed against his and my lips placed on his. After the first second of realization he took action and pressed me closer. Feeling him smirk against the kiss, I bit him teasingly to tell him to shut up.
"I told you." He continued whispering seductively in my ear. "Why would I ever want to get you into trouble?"
My eyes widened in realization of the motive behind his actions and I managed to smile tiredly at him. "You sly clown…"
The kiss seemed to last for seconds, before Mephisto stopped to look into my eyes and pecked softly my forehead. He grasped my hand and started walking away from Shura and the crowd, towards our hotel. I followed him silently, feeling dazed. He took me back to the hotel and left me in the lounge for a moment as he rushed to the reception and then immediately came back. Putting an arm around me he clicked his fingers and before I knew it we were on the roof of the hotel. The wooden floor was covered with soft carpet and on our feet was a bottle of sake with two cups.
I looked surprised at Mephisto who brought his arm around my body dragging me closer to him and once more felt his warm lips on mine. A sigh escaped my lips as I felt at peace at his warm embrace. He paused bringing his lips close to my ear.
"Happy Birthday, Ayame."
I felt goosebumps running down my neck that had nothing to do with the cold that I barely noticed. His warm breath tickled my ear and he turned his attention back to my lips. I still think that was one of the most magical nights of my life, with Mephisto gentle caressing and with the festival on our feet and the thousands of fireworks resembling bright flowers exploding on the dark starless sky.
That's it for now minna-san.
I'm not sure what the new chapter will include but...
1) We will see Shura soon! And another character from the anime/manga will be added as he's/she's been hinted.
2) If you want to you can tell me what you would like to see a bit more of in the story. Here's a few options, but you can suggest more...
-Jealousy?
-Action?
-Other Characters? New or already mentioned...
It's not that I'm out of ideas, but I really like satisfying your reading needs. So I'm here to fully satisfy you, while Mephisto will do the same to me~
I mean, what?
...
Okay! Love you all and can't wait to hear from you!